October search trends help creators scare up content

Hubble bubble toil and trouble,

Are you a creator in a bit of a muddle?

If so, listen up, we’re here to enlighten,

Data insights don’t have to frighten,

With just a click and a scroll and a sprinkle of magic,

We conjure the data to make your content fantastic…

Halloween is right around the corner. So it’s no surprise that Halloween-themed searches are surging. To celebrate everyone’s favorite spooky holiday — and to help you conjure up some great content ideas — our Google Search Trends for October video offers insights into the most popular, fun and wacky searches of the season.

Ready to discover what’s haunting the minds of web searchers? Follow me…

Dreadful DIY decor

Terms that spike every year in North America are “spider webs,” “skeleton,” “witchcraft,” “vampire” and “cat eye contacts” (yikes!). What does this tell us? Well, that Halloween searches on Google focus around décor. For designers, decorators and party planners, some breakout terms this fall are “hanging witch hats’’ and “trees covered in webs,’’ which more than doubled this month. If you’re a family-focused influencer or just plain crafty, the most popular “how to make” decorations are “wreath,” “tombstones,” “scarecrow,” “cauldrons” and “coffins.” We also unearthed the most popular patterns for jack-o’-lantern pumpkin carving.

Creepy costumes and makeup

For fashionistas and beauty bloggers, trending terms that have doubled include "Cosmo and Wanda halloween costume" and "daredevil costume,” while "cat costume" is also up a whopping 400 percent. The most searched partner costumes are Bonnie and Clyde, Lilo and Stitch, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Velma and Daphne, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Mario and Luigi and Beauty and the Beast. Beauty trends saw searches for “zombie,” “skeleton,” “clown,” “witch” and “vampire” makeup. In the video, we also reveal the most popular masks (with Freddy Krueger making a comeback) as well as top trends for nail art ideas for Halloween manicures.

Frightfully fun refreshments

A survey of Halloween searches wouldn’t be complete without a rundown of the season’s standout food and beverages. For the mixologists out there, the top trending spooky cocktails this year are “witches brew,” “bloody Mary,” “brain hemorrhage shot,” “beetlejuice” and “black magic margarita.” Top searched Halloween-themed foods include “hocus pocus buns,” “mummy hot dogs,” “hocus pocus charcuterie board” and “spider web taco dip.”

For our complete rundown on Halloween-themed searches — and other fun facts that bubbled up in our research, tune into Google Search Trends for October on the Google for Creators YouTube Channel. With these insights and your own creativity, you might find ways to create content that taps into your audience’s spirit for fun this Halloween season.